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YOUNGER  ARTISTS  SERIES 

NUMBER  1 

ERNEST  FIENE 


PRINTED  By 
ERNST  WASMUTH  A.-G., 


BERLIN 


YOUNGER  ARTISTS  SERIES 

NUMBER  1 


ERNEST  PIENE 

BY 

WILLIAM  MURRELL 


WITH  FRONTISPIECE  IN  COLOR  AND 
30  REPRODUCTIONS  IN  BLACK  AND  WHITE 


WITH  A GENERAL  INTRODUCTION  By 
HAROLD  WARD 


WOODSTOCK  N.  Y.  1922 
PUBLISHED  BY  WILLIAM  M.  TISHER 


YOUNGER  ARTISTS  SERIES 


Already  Published 
Nr.  1 Ernest  Fiene 
Nr.  2 Alexander  Brook 
Nr.  3 Peggy  Bacon 
Nr.  4 Yasuo  Kuniyoshi 

In  Preparation 
Nr.  5 Henry  Lee  Mac  Fee 
Nr.  6 Ben  Benn 
Nr.  7 Edward  Fisk 
Nr.  8 Henry  Mattson 


A General  Introduction 


The  artists  who  receive  consideration  in  the 
various  monographs  or  this  series  represent  ten-= 
dencies  as  diverse  as  the  poles.  Most  of  them 
are  young,  many  of  them  are  quite  unknown  save 
to  a very  few  interested  spectators,  but  none  of 
them  finds  either  his  youth  or  his  obscurity  any 
bar  to  the  one  motive  that  inspires  his  efforts.  This 
motive,  which  is  also  the  sole  criterion  whereby 
the  editor  has  sought  to  estimate  the  value  of  their 
work,  may  he  summed  up  in  the  words,  » A vivid 
and  dynamic  expression  of  an  individuality  in 
terms  of  a plastic  medium. « 

As  corollary  to  the  above  formula,  although 
rather  implied  than  anywhere  definitely  stated, 
there  is  throughout  an  attitude  of  entire  indifference 
to  the  traditional  values  of  truth  or  beauty  or 
sincerity.  This  indifference  arises,  not  from  host= 
ility,  or  bravade,  but  simply  from  a conviction 
that  such  values  tend  ever  to  a static  or  moral 
interpretation  of  the  things  upon  which  they  are 
called  to  sit  in  judgment.  And  any  interpretation 
of  the  work  produced  through  the  efficient  func= 
tioning  of  a powerful  intelligence  or  a highly 


sensitive  temperament  becomes  vicious  and  ste- 
rile at  the  moment  it  ceases  to  ragrd  every  in= 
dividual  as  not  only  profoundly  different  from  all 
others,  but  as  changing,  subtly  and  incalculably, 
within  himself. 

For  this  reason  the  brief  sketch  prefacing  the 
reproductions  of  each  artist's  work  is  devoid  of 
even  the  intention  of  aesthetic  criticism.  The  man 
is  introduced  quietly,  emphasis  being  placed  upon 
sudh  traits  of  character  as  made  him  noticeable 
to  the  writer,  who,  as  ancaserver,  was  as  much 
interested  in  the  human  being  as  in  the  artist  that 
struggles  with  idiosyncrasies  and  limitations.  This 
done,  it  is  the  artist's  turn,  in  the  pages  that  follow, 
to  state  in  his  own  language  what  he  has  disco- 
vered about  himself  and  the  world  which  this 
intangible  self  perceives.  In  time  he  may  achieve 
a more  lucid,  unique  and  definite  statement:  or 
since  those  who  would  create  are  always  the 
favorites  of  tragedy,  — he  may  be  retired  into  the 
silence  and  shadow  of  the  inadequate.  It  does  not 
matter,  inasmuch  as  his  work,  as  it  now  stands, 
is  of  enduring  value  to  those  who  are  patient  to 
seek  and  swift  to  appreciate  the  brilliant  jewel  of 
an  authentic  utterance. 


Harold  Ward. 


ERNEST  FIENE 


Ernest  Fiene  <born  in  Rhineland  in  1894)  has 
the  big  solid  frame  and  capable  hands  of  the  prac- 
tical man,-  his  countenance  is  open  and  his  manner 
is  candid,  but  his  eyes  are  those  of  a dreamer. 
In  his  personal  contacts  he  is  honest,  simple,  and 
loyal,-  highly  sensitive  and  quick  to  moods,  sym= 
pathetic  and  otherwise. 

For  the  rest,  he  is  all  painter.  A romantic  with 
a strong,  unaffected  faith  in  his  own  vision  of  the 
world,  untainted  by  any  intellectual  or  aesthetic 
theories,  he  paints  his  way  through  difficulties 
that  arise.  He  feels  his  course  towards  plastic 
and  chromatic  achievement  with  his  brushes  in  his 
hands.  He  recognizes  any  hint  of  what  he  is  aiming 
for  the  instant  it  appears  upon  the  canvas,  and 
works  into  and  from  it.  He  denies  to  words,  and 


hence  to  thought,  the  power  of  pre=visaging  the 
distinctly  plastic  things  of  art. 

His  is  an  essentially  visual  imagination,  but 
one  that  takes  no  flights.  The  fantastic  and  the 
grotesque  amuse  but  do  not  interest  him.  He  is 
sane,  tenacious,  solid.  He  does  not  evoke,  he 
builds.  His  simplicity  is  devoid  of  naivete. 

Although  he  is  an  excellent  craftsman,  there  is 
nothing  of  the  virtuoso  about  his  canvases:  the 
epic  granduer  of  some  of  them  is  quite  free  from 
»grand  mannerism«.  Into  the  fine  solidity  of  his 
form  and  the  brooding  warmth  of  his  color  there 
is  always  infused  a mood  of  intense  and  sustained 
power.  It  is  no  trick  of  technique,  no  subtle  sofl> 
nesses  of  twilight  tones.  These  are  all  clear,  forces 
ful,  weII=conceived,  and  ably  ^painted  canvases, 
but  Fiene  has  somehow  enriched  them  in  the  pain- 
ting by  something  from  himself.  That  something 
is  not  without  analogy  in  music:  it  is  the  effect 
(occasionally  a little  »beyond  the  range  of  the 
instruments «>  demanded  of  orchestras  by  some 
composers  and  actually  produced  by  some  con^ 
ductors.  It  is  the  forcing  of  a recalcitrant  medium 
not  only  to  do  the  will  of  the  artist  but  to  take 
on  the  color  of  his  personality  in  moods  of 
sustained  intensity. 


In  these  landscape,  portrait,  and  still-life  can= 
vases  of  Fiene’s  there  is  evident  a great  love  of 
tactile  quality,-  the  treatment  throughout  is  sensu= 
ous,  and  it  is  all  but  indisputable  that  the  subtle 
forms  of  radiant  flesh  will  claim  increasingly  more 
of  his  attention  and  allegiance. 


ERNEST  FIENE 
REPRODUCTIONS 

Frontispiece  in  Color  — Still-Life  <Water=Color> 

Paintings  and  Water^Colors: 

1.  November  Landscape 

2.  Autumn 

3.  Harlem  River 

4.  Maine  Landscape 

5.  Water^Fall 

6.  Zinnias  and  Apples 

7.  Sea  in  Recoil 

8.  Farmer 

9.  Landscape  before  Rain 

10.  Apple^Blossoms 

11.  WoodMnterior 

12.  Landscape 

13.  Woodstock  Landscape 

14.  Gypsy 

15.  Study  in  Color 

16.  Plowed  Field 

17.  Woman  in  Pink 

18.  Nudes 

19.  Willow  Trees 

20.  Fifth  Avenue  in  Rain 

21.  Bathers 

22.  Zinnias 

23.  Portrait  of  Paul  Arndt 


24.  Autumn  Hillside 

25.  Winter 

26.  Still-Life  on  Stone  Mantel 

27.  Summer  Landscape 

28.  Valley  in  the  Catskills 

29.  Sun-shower 

30.  Portrait  of  Christine  Chaplin 


NOVEMBER  LANDSCAPE  Oil  1918 


mm 


AUTUMN  Oil  1920 


HARLEM  RIVER  Oil  1920 


MAINE  LANDSCAPE 


Oil  192  L 


WATER-FALL 


Oil  19-21 


FARMER 


Oil  1920 


LANDSCAPE  BEFORE  RAIN  Oil  lb2i 


WOOD-INTERIOI 


WOODSTOCK.  LANDSCAPE 


GYPSY 


Watercolor  1920 


STUDY  IN  COLOR 


Oil  1921 


PLOWED  FIELD 


Oil  1921 


WOMAN  IN  PINK 


Oil  1921 


NUDES 


Oil  1919 


WILLOW  TREES 


Oil  1921 


FIFTH:  AYENUEJNRAIN 

(Owned^y: Alfred  M.  Schaffer) 


Watercolor  1919 


BATHERS 


Watercolor  1918 


ZINNIAS 


Watercolor  1919 


PORTRAIT  OR  PAUL  ARNDT 


Oil  1921 


HHjjSKgPi 


. • 


WINTER  011  1922 


STI  LL-LIEF,  ON  STONE  MANTLE  Oil  1921 


SUMMER  LANDSCAPE 


Oil  11-21 


(Owned  by  Paul  Fiene) 


THE  VALLEY  IN  THE  CATSKILLS 


(Owned  by  Miss  R.  Jones) 


PORTRAIT  OF  CHRISTINE  CHAPLIN 


Oil  1921 


GETTY  RESEARCH  INSTITUTE 


3 3125  01500  3938 


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